


Fading Out Hunting

by Estirose



Category: Kamen Rider Kiva, Power Rangers Dino Thunder
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-06-05
Updated: 2010-06-05
Packaged: 2017-10-09 22:29:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,172
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/92283
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Estirose/pseuds/Estirose
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kuramae Noboru chooses the wrong place to hunt.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fading Out Hunting

**Author's Note:**

> Characters belong to various and sundry entities.
> 
> I wrote this to see if I could bring myself to do a 100-crossover series with Kamen Rider Kiva. I decided it was a bad idea. This fic, which features a Fangire that only showed up in two episodes, was the result.
> 
> Written 2008.

Kuramae Noboru enjoyed traveling to other countries. Over the time he'd been alive, the humans' transportation had steadily improved to the point where seeing other places was no longer a pain. It was handy, too, because at least the energy that he fed off of at least felt a little more exotic, even if he knew that humans were humans and that their energy had the same variations no matter where they came from.

He admitted that certain Fangire had certain 'tastes' in the humans they fed from. Noboru himself was drawn towards artists, though he certainly didn't mind feeding off the occasional beautiful woman. There was a model he kind of liked the looks of, when he got back to Japan.

In the meantime, he'd picked up a brochure and was doing a self-guided tour of the architectural beauties of Reefside, California. He liked seeing how artists in the different parts of the world worked, and architects were no exception. Maybe he'd check out the local architects, maybe some old ones who had done their job. They had less energy, but the energy they had was wonderful to his palates. Besides, the people outside Japan weren't as always as respectful for their elders as the people of Japan were.

He stopped at a cybercafe when he finished, taking a picture of the streetcar in front of it before ducking inside. From there, he could upload the photos from the tour to his own private account, sorting through them when he got home. Spotting a stage and framed artwork on the walls, he grinned. Maybe he'd get more out of this place than just sending his pictures home.

"Excuse me," he said to the woman at the counter, seeing no signs for how to rent a computer for a period of time, "I'd like to rent time at a computer."

The woman, a redhead, smiled. "Certainly. We mostly rent out laptops for that kind of thing." She indicated the laptops with the place's logo on them. Oddly enough, they didn't seem to be tethered.

"Ah. I'd like one of the desktops, please?" Noboru asked. "I want to upload some pictures to the web from my camera."

"I guessed," the woman said, smiling. "I recognize the accent – Japanese, is it?"

"Yes," he said. "I take pictures of buildings – I hope to sell them when I get home." He indicated his camera. "I want to have a backup."

"Can I see a photo ID?" the woman asked.

Noboru smiled and dug his passport out. "And how much to rent a station?" he asked.

She told him, and he dug the money out, too, paying for some time on the computer. He moved to an empty computer, plugging the cable for his camera in. Despite his best efforts, he couldn't get the computer to recognize the flash card in the camera. His frustration must have communicated itself to the woman in charge, for she was soon by his side. "What's wrong?"

"Computer is not recognizing the memory card," he said. Maybe he wouldn't be uploading his pictures.

"Here," she said, and typed in a set of commands on the computer. "Try it now."

He plugged it in, and to his surprise, the computer recognized the card. "Thankyou."

"It's no problem," she said. "What do you do for a living? Besides try to sell pictures."

"I'm a technical writer," he said. It was a lie, but one that she could easily believe if she played it right. "I write manuals for engineering firms. My last one had to do with setting stress points on software. And you?"

"I'm Hayley," she said, "The owner of this place. So, do you use standard CAD software, or?"

"No, we have our own internal process," he said. "It's based off of such software."

She nodded. "Oh." She paused. "Your English is very fluent."

"It has to be, Hayley-san," he said, smiling at her. "Thank you for helping me out."

"Any time," she said, returning to her place.

He caught her watching him as he uploaded the photos. He himself was scanning the place for likely prey while not looking like he was doing it. Maybe there would be a stage show, and he'd find a human to eat before he left. Or maybe he'd meet the artist of some of the more comic-book like drawings that adorned the walls like artwork on a refrigerator. There was a human boy – adult, probably – who was sketching on a sketchpad. Even if he wasn't the Cyberspace's artist, he could still be worth snacking on.

On second thought, maybe he wasn't. Noboru had to somewhat blunder his way through their conversation, and he didn't want the woman to realize he wasn't what he said he was. He must seem suspicious to her, by the way she was looking at him, like she didn't trust him. She probably had his name in her logs, and he guessed there weren't that many Japanese tourists using the computers at her cybercafe.

Once he was done with his photos, he logged out and walked over to one of the pictures. "It's a nice picture, isn't it?" Hayley, coming up beside him.

"I'm always fascinated by American superheroes," he said. "The art looks familiar – is the artist local?" Trent Fernandez – did that sound familiar? He wasn't sure.

"Yes, in fact," Hayley said. "When he's out from school, he's a busboy here. He's also worked with Carson Brady on some comics."

"Ah – that might be where I recognize the art from." He studied the picture more. "American superhero drawing styles are much different than those found in our manga, but in some cases, easier on the eyes." The picture was one of a young music-themed superheroine. The artist definitely had some talent in there, somewhere, though his work was a bit rough. "Is this an early piece?"

Hayley nodded. "It was one of his first that he'd allow me to see. He's very sensitive about his drawings – his father's very rich and didn't approve of him being an artist."

"Ah." She wasn't telling him much about the artist – he'd have to do a search for the artist on one of the search engines. At some other cafe. Not here. He looked about. There was a girl that was clearly the one who had been the model for the drawing, next to the young man who was sketching. Hayley was being very careful, but he knew from her expression that the young man was the artist.

Not that he could get away with hunting that prey, though. Not with the rich father, not with Hayley watching him. But someday, they'd slip up, and besides, it probably wouldn't hurt for him to find someone else. Someone who wouldn't attract attention. After all, Noboru wasn't stupid. Just hungry. Eventually.

He'd leave this place, and he'd hunt, and he'd never come to this place again, until Hayley had forgotten and he could hunt here again.

Noboru slipped out the door and started hunting again.


End file.
